The Oregon track and field team had a strong start to its first day of the Razorback Invitational in Arkansas, collecting eight top-10 marks and two first-place finishes.
The men’s distance medley relay of James West, Jacob Miller, Charlie Hunter and Cooper Teare made history on Friday by smashing the current NCAA collegiate record of 9:24.52, set 12 years ago by Texas in 2008. The junior Teare anchored the team in the 1600m with a time of 3:55 to lead them to victory. They shaved more than two seconds off the previous Oregon record as well and over 11 seconds from the second-place team Texas with a time of 9:36.16.
Rhesa Foster also recorded the other Oregon win with her second consecutive win at the Razorback Invitational for the long jump with a mark of 6.34m/20-9.75 on her fourth jump to seal the first place win. The senior surpassed the second place finisher Mercy Abire from LSU with a mark of 6.31m. Foster also currently ranks nationally in the top-10 in the long jump.
Mathilde Rey made a mark in her collegiate track and field debut with a third-place finish in the pentathlon and already secured the No. 2 mark in program history. Her debut included a personal best score of 4,142 points. The freshman is only the third Duck in Oregon history to secure over 4,000 points and only behind Brianne Theison-Easton for the first place spot.
Continuing the top-10 marks for Oregon in men’s weight throw were redshirt seniors Max Lydum and Austin Tharp, who placed sixth and seventh. Tharp threw his first 60-foot throw of his career to secure the 10th spot on Oregon’s all-time list. Sixth place Lydum became the No. 6 performer in program history after performing his PR best in his last throw of 18.95m.
Senior teammate Ben Milligan is now tied for No. 5 on the Oregon top-10 list in the high jump after placing fifth with an indoor-best of 2.16m to add to the Ducks’ top-10 finishing list.
After day one of the invitational, redshirt freshman Max Vollmer currently sits in sixth place with an overall 3,179 points in the heptathlon. Vollmer tied or set an indoor personal best in all of the four events in shot put, high jump, long jump and the 60 meter.
Saturday will be the last day of the Razorback Invitational, starting at 8:40 a.m. where the heptathlon, most of the running events, shot put and triple jump will be in action.
